Meet Rodney Woods Jr | Rodney Woods Jr (Visuals By Duke) | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rodney Woods Jr and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rodney, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
One of the most important decision I made that contributed to my success is take no for an answer. I’m from a small town in Louisiana called Thibodaux. Whenever I first got into photography I wanted to start a photography club at my high school, but I could not get any teacher to sponsor the club. My next best option at the time was to reach out to photographers in my community and in the surrounding areas, but sadly no one responded or they just told me no. Although those things happened, I didn’t let that discourage me. I was determined to learn, so some days I took my camera to school and walked home and took photographs of random things. On my free time, I would walk downtown and around my community and photograph everything. Over the time, I gained a little knowledge, but I did not want to stop there, so I picked up books on photography, I watched tons of youtube videos and educated myself. Now I have my own photography business (Visuals By Duke), I’m a senior at Nicholls State University getting my BFA in Studio Fine Arts with a minor in Art History, I work for Nicholls State University marketing department as a student photographer, I been featured in Vogue Italia online publication 18 times, I won countless art and photography awards.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As an Artist and business owner, what set me apart from others is 100% of the time I’m creating and taking photographs because I love it, I just happen to make money from it. Photography is truly my way of life, my passion and love for Art and photography grows every second. There’s never a time where i’m not thinking about it or how to improve my work. I’m most excited about learning more about Art in general, so I can most more impactful art. I want to change lives with my work one day. I got to where i’m at professionally by staying consistent and chasing my dreams. I did have a lot of challenges, but I overcame those challenges by putting those unfortunate things into my work and turned it into a beautiful piece of art. One lesson that a learned along the way is it important to fail short sometimes because it forces you to look at things from a different perspective. I would like the world to know that Faith, Consistency, Passion, and Love should always come first, the rest will come later.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was coming to the area, we would definitely go to New Orleans and visit the New Orleans Museum of Art and other art galleries around Julia street. For food were going to Bennachin on Royal Street or Juan’s Flying Burrito on Magazine Street. We would definitely hit up the skate parks.


Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to give a Huge shout out to My Family, thanks for believing in me and keeping my dreams alive, Nicholls State University Department of Art. Every teacher in the art department influence, inspire, and motivate me daily. Two of the Teachers Deborah Lillie and Ross Jahnke has been a great influence on my path as an artist and deserves a big thanks, without the two of you I wouldn’t have made it this far. Kristen Anselmi and Jason Graham, for the countless amount of support, knowledge, and love.

Website: visualsbyduke.com

Instagram: @visualsbyduke

Twitter: Visualsbyduke